“Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.” (Psalm 147:7 NIV)
It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving and most of us have already flipped the switch to Christmas. While our tree is up and decorated, I’m not quite ready to let go of giving thanks. Our small home is a little full and my heart is even fuller. We’ve gathered and feasted and gamed and gabbed. We’ve laughed and cried, shared inside jokes and inside scoops. Our green rental house has already hosted a great many memories. When people start leaving at the end of the weekend, my heart will still be singing.
Our son is a music major. He’s neck deep in his third semester of music theory. Everything is music all the time with him. He tears apart and analyzes every riff and tune, he guards his hearing against earworms and he has an opinion on volume, pattern and placement. He is pulling back the curtain for us ordinary people who play the radio and occasional guitar or flute. He and I were running an errand the other day and he sighed as he shut off the stereo.
“Modern music is too uncomplicated, Mom. ABAB format is just boring. Now Bach or Beethoven, they really knew how to write something that held interest.”
His words about repetition have stuck with me. The Great Orchestartor of our symphonies could never be labeled unimaginative. Our sonatas reach such harrowing highs and lows. Themes are repeated but still with variation. The complications are interesting. We can learn to sing along with gratitude and amazement through the entire arrangement.
“Praise the Lord. How good it is sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him.” (Psalm 147:1 NIV)
O Lord, please help us to hear the beautiful and intricate sypmphony . You are creating in our story. Give us the courage to raise our voice and sing along. Help us realize the complications are interesting, even magnificent. Let us learn to sing thanks through all our seasons. Amen.